Eggless Cake (Using Buttermilk)

It was time again when i had to bake a cake for my class.. Just then i did see Madhuram's post of egg substitute event using buttermilk. Was not sure as to how the taste would be as i have never tasted a cake with butter milk. So decided to bake a very small cake . Modified my mom's vanilla cake recipe. One thing i read in a book sometime back was not to over beat the cake once the soda water was added.So did follow that and the resultant cake was really soft ..

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour -- 1 1/3 cup

Buttermilk -- 1/2 cup

Sugar -- 2/3 cup

Butter -- 1/3 cup

Baking powder -- 1/2 tsp

Vanilla essence -- 2tsp

Soda water -- 1/2 cup

Method:

• Sieve together All-purpose flour and baking powder. Keep aside
• Mix sugar and butter till soft and fluffy .
• Add buttermilk and stir well until blended.
• To the buttermilk mixture, add all-purpose flour, soda water and mix well. But don't over mix.
• Finally add vanilla essence, mix well and pour in a greased cake pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

This is off to Madhuram's egg substitute event : http://www.egglesscooking.com/2009/03/18/announcing-egg-substitute-event-yogurtbuttermilk/

Tostitos Scoop Chat

This is a quick and easy to make chat if you have all things on hand .So tried this Chip & Chat.. It was a real hit and DH enjoyed these ..

Ingredients:
Tostitos Scoops -- as many as you want
For the Filling :
Sprouted Green Moong -- 1 cup
Tomatoes -- 4tbsp Chopped into small squares
Onions -- 4tbsp chopped finely
Cilantro -- 1tbsp chopped finely
Cucumber -- 2 tbsp chopped finely
Salt to taste
Tamarind chutney -- According to taste
Green Chutney -- According to taste

For Garnish :
Thick Yogurt --- 2tbsp
Sev -- little

Method :
Mix all the above ingredients well.. Scoop them in the tostitos scoops. Top with little yogurt and sev. Serve.. Isn't that easy !! Enjoy these chip & chat..
These scoops can be prepared well ahead for parties.. They hold up to 2 hrs..

Eggless Yellow Cake..

After joining the Wilton Cake class, i had to bake a cake for the class. Was wondering as to what cake would be crumb free which would enable easy icing. Was browsing through the Wilton's site when i found their Basic Yellow Cupcakes recipe. Here is the link. http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Basic-Yellow-Cupcakes .
Modified the recipe to suite my needs.. Just omitted the eggs , and increased the quantity of milk . Reduced the amount of butter and sugar as i was going to ice the cake. The recipe had called for cake flour. Was googling to find out a substitute for it , i found out that For each cup of all purpose flour used, put 1 tsp of cornstarch in the measuring cup and then top up with all purpose flour to make a cup of flour. So i made my cake flour using this method. Here is the first cake i iced at my class :

Ingredients:
3 cups cake flour sifted
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2cups milk

Method:

• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and keep aside
• In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
• Add the milk and flour alternately to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. After the last addition, beat well for a minute or two till all the dry and wet ingredients and incorporated well.
• Grease an 8inch cake pan and pour in the mixture.
• Bake at 350 F for about 50 minutes till a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

My cake took 60 minutes to bake as my cake pan was an 8 inch pan with 3 inch depth.

Basic White Bread

While hip hoping through blogs i did find this recipe on Hema's Simple Spices Blog http://simplyspices.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/basic-bread-recipe/ .. Was really easy and the bread came out so soft ... Enjoyed the smell of baking fresh bread at home..

I used the same recipe as her's.. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients :
1 cup room temp water
2 tsp.(2 pkg(each 14 oz)) Active Dry Yeast
2 Tbsp. Sugar
2 Tbsp. Vegetable(or) any cooking Oil
1 tsp Salt
2 cups All Purpose Flour

Method :

• Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water.. (If water is too hot it would kill the yeast resulting in unrised dough).. So be sure the water is at room temp.
• Allow yeast to rise for 15 min. The yeast mixture would turn frosty
• Mix all other (Flour,Salt,and Oil) ingredients
• Add yeast mixture and make dough gently since yeast is live culture.
• Make sure you knead the dough really well.. 10 to 15 minutes
• Cover the dough let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hr.
• Punch dough down; Cover it and let rise until doubled in size,about 1 hr again.
• Keep dough in Bread/Loaf pan and allow it to rise to double the volume again.
• Bake for 35 to 45 min in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven.
• Remove from pan. Cool on wire rack.

Enjoy tasty fresh home made bread..

Eggless Chocolate Cake (Using Vinegar)

This is a cake which i have been baking for years.. The moment i saw this month egg substitute event was vinegar i decided to bake it.. This is such a easy and quick cake .. Could be baked in the microwave too , and the baking time would be 8 to 10 minutes. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients :
All Purpose Flour --- 1 1/2 cups
Powdered sugar --- 1 Cup
Coco Powder ---- 3 Tbsp
Baking Powder --1 tsp
Refined oil -- 5 Tbsp
White vinegar -- 1 tbsp
Vanilla essence -- 1 tbsp
Milk -- 1 cup

Method :
Sift all the dry ingredients together. Mix all liquids well. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients , mix till it combines well and forms a smooth cake consistency.. Pour it in a greased baking pan and bake in a 350 degree pre heated oven till done or till a toothpick when pierced comes out without sticking . It would approx take 25 to 30 minutes.
Allow to cool on a wire rack and then slice them..

This is off to Madhu's http://www.egglesscooking.com/2009/02/13/announcing-egg-substitut-event-vinegar/